Watertight slide fastener closure



Oct. 28, 1952 SHUR 2,615,224

WATERTIGHT SLIDE FASTENER CLOSURE Filed May 25, 1950 2 SI-lEETS-SI-IEET l FIG INVENTOR lRA SHUR,

BY & ATTORNEY Oct. 28, 1952 1, s u 2,615,224

WATERTIGHT SLIDE FASTENER CLOSURE Filed May 25, 1950 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 IN VENTOR I RA SHUR,

ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 28, 1952 WATERTIGHT SLIDE FASTENER CLOSURE Ira Shur, Floral-Park, N. Y., assignor to Waldes Kohinoor, 1110., Long Island City, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 25, 1950, Serial No. 164,223

This invention relates to improvements in water-tight closures for garments and the like, and more particularly to an improved slide fastener closure unit providing a positive seal against entry of liquid or moisture therethrough.

In general, it may be said that the prior slidefastener closures designed to provide water-, proofness have been either ineffective for their intended purpose or impractical. One such closure as disclosed in United States Patent No. 2,325,332 employs a double slide fastenerwhose fasteners are disposed in side-by-side relation, and complemental stringer tapes which are each continued to extend over (or under) a fastener. It is obvious that such afa'stener is incapable of providing a positive water or liquid seal since fabric tapes are themselves not liquidor moisture-proof and thus the expedient of covering the fasteners with'fabric tapes to give waterproofness has proved ineffective, particularly in the rugged type of service encountered in the armed forces, for example. Another form of waterproof slide fastener unit employs double fasteners arranged one behind the other, with rubber sealing strips interposed therebetween. However, the overall thickness of such a closure unit is more than double that ofthe conventional slide fastener closure, which is an objectionable feature, and the disposition of the fasteners in directly overlying relation results in the unit having objectionable stiffness, so that it can be bent or flexed only with difficulty.

It is accordingly a principal object of this invention to avoid the aforementioned disadvan tages of the prior fastener closures designed for waterand moisture-proofness, through the pro' vision of a slide fastener closure unit which not only provides an effective liquid and moisture seal but which at the same time has an overall thickness not appreciably exceeding the thickness of a conventional single slide fastener closure.

Another important object of-the invention is the provision of an improved waterproof slide fastener closure unit of the typeemploying two slide fasteners arranged one behind the other as above, but in which the fastenersare oppositely offset with respect to the longitudinal center line of the closure, thus to reduce the'overall thickness of the unit, and wherein sealing strips disposed between the slide fasteners are so arranged and related to each other and to said fasteners that they do not materially increase the overall thickness of the unit.

A further object of the invention isthe pro-- vision of a watertight slide fastener closure unit,

' 2 Claims. (Cl. 24-205.1)

- fastener 2 of the type employing two slide fasteners of more or less' conventional construction, which is adapted to be attached to the edges'of an opening in a garment or other article in which the unit is to be incorporated also in conventional manner, wherein sealing material is provided between the fasteners functioning hermetically to seal any opening through which liquid and moisture can possibly pass through the unit, and wherein the disposition of fasteners and sealing material is such that the overall thickness'o'f the unit does not substantially exceed that of'the conventional single slide fastener.

The above and other objects and advantages of the improved watertight closure of the inven tion will be seen from the following detaileddescription thereof, taken with the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred physical embodiment, in which:

Fig. 1 is a sectional-perspectiveview of'a closure unit according to the invention shown in closed position, in which the thickness of'the unit has beenexaggerated for better disclosure; Fig. 2 is a similar view but with the fastener opened; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the closure illustrated in Fig. l, in which the unit is shown with its normal thickness.

Referring to the drawings, a slide fastener c1os-' ure unit according to the invention comprises two slide fasteners designated Ill and I I, each of more or less conventional construction and differing from conventional fasteners only in the width of the fastener tapes, as will be hereinafter ex-- plained. For convenience of description, the- II) will be referred to as the upper fastener and the fastener II as the lower fastener, but it will be understood that such designations are not intended to indicate restriction in the use of the invention to any particular position of the fasteners of the unit when applied to a garment or other article.

The upper fastener It comprises a pair of fastener stringers whose flexible (usually fabric) tapes I2 and I3 carry along their adjacent beaded edges l4, l5 rows of oppositely disposed fastener elementslfi (of which only one element has been illustrated in Fig. l in the interest of clarity): Said fastener elements are adaptedto be engaged and disengaged in the usual manner by a slider I'I actuable by a pull tab I8. 7

'Ihe lower fastener II similarly comprises a'. pair of fastener stringers whose tapes 2E}, 2I carry along their adjacent edges I4, I5 the oppositely disposed fastener elements designated 22 which are adapted to be engaged and disengaged by a slider 23 operated by a pull tab corresponding to pull tab I8.

According to the invention, the upper and lower fasteners are so related that their fastener openings as defined by the rows of fastener elements are oppositely offset to the longitudinal center line of the closure unit, and such offsetting is achieved in simple manner by forming the opposite tapes l2 and 2| of the respective fasteners l and H with extra width. Thus, the lefthand tape [2 of the upper fastener I0 is extra wide so that it provides, in addition to its element-attaching portion, a covering portion 24 and a garment- I attaching portion 25. Similarly, the opposite (righthand) tape 2! of the lower fastener H has extra width such that it provides a covering portion 26 and an article-attaching portion 21.

Instead of attaching both the corresponding upper and lower tapes [2, and I3, 2| of the respective fasteners to the edges of th garment orarticle opening, the short width or right-hand tape l3 of the upper fastener is secured to the attaching .portion 21 of the lower fastener tape 2| as by a line of stitching 29, and similarly the short width tape 20 of the lower fastener is secured-by a line of stitching 30 to th attaching portion of the upper fastener tape [2. In this manner, the two fasteners are assembled one on the other as a unit and the unit may be attached as such to the edges of a garment or article opening in the conventional manner, as by stitchin or otherwise securing the tape attaching portion 25, 21 of the upper and lower fasteners, respectively, to said edges.

With the upper and lower fasteners [0, II secured to one another relatively outwardly of their fastener openings, the space between the unsecured fasteners proper is completely filled with a liquid-sealing material, as indicated more particularly on an exaggerated scale in Fig. 1, and onanormal scale in Fig. 3. Such material may be, for example, natural or synthetic rubber, or some appropriate plastic material having liquid and moisture impenetrability and the requisite degree of flexibility and resiliency for use in a flexible slide fastener.

The preferred construction and attachment of the filling material is illustratively shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and comprises a pair of sealin strips 32, 33 made from a material as aforesaid, each filling approximately half of the space between the fasteners. The sealing strip 32 is secured to the under face of the covering portion 24 of the upper left fastener stringer, and the sealing strip 33 is secured to the upper face of the covering portion 26 of the lower left-hand stringer, as by a suitable adhesive. It will be observed that the width of the sealing strips 32, 33 is not substantially less than the width of the wider tape portions 24, 26 to which they are respectively attached. Such results in the strip associated with the wider tape of one fastener being disposed to cover the opening of the other fastener. The inner or adjacent edges of the sealing strips 3 2, 33 meet on the longitudinal center line of the closure unit, and their meetin ends 32a, 33a are complementally L-shaped so that they overlap one another. To provide intimate contact as well as large contact area between the meeting ends of the sealing strips, thus to impart thereto positive liquidand moisture-sealing properties, said meeting ends are moreover serrated so as to provide a plurality of mating projections 32b, 33b and corresponding recesses which interfit one with the other in the manner shown when the unit is closed.

By reference to Figs. 1 and 3, it will be further seen that the sealing strip 32 is provided in its under face with a downwardly opening channel 36 to accommodate the slider 2-3 of the lower fastener, and that the sealing strip 33 is provided in its upper face with an upwardly opening channel 31 to accommodate the slider 11 of the upper fastener. The channeling of the sealing strips aforesaid effects a reduction in the thickness of the closure unit and also make for smooth operation of the sliders.

It will thus be seen that in the closed position of the fasteners a closure unit of the invention is positively protected and sealed against the ingress of any liquid or moisture to the article or garment through either of the openings of the fasteners I0 and H. Moreover, due to the offsetting of the fastener openings, the rows of fastener elements I 6, 22 do not directly overlie on another but, instead, are oppositely offset from the longitudinal center of the closure, with the result that even with the addition of the rubber sealing strips 32, 33 the overall thickness of the fastener does not substantially exceed that of a conventional slide fastener closure employing a single fastener. Hence, a l'iquidand moisture-proof closure unit according to the invention satisfies the practical flexibility and thickness standards required of closures adapted to be applied to garments and other articles which are themselves flexible.

It is also a feature of advantage of the illustrated closure unit that it may be readily opened and reclosed, opening being simply effected asby firs-t actuating slider I! in fastener opening direction, whereupon V the left-hand flap-like stringer (2 of the upper fastener I I may be raised to a position generally shown in Fig. 2, thus to provide access to the slider 23 of the lower fastener, which latter may-now be actuated in direction as to open the lower fastener, thereby to completely separate both fasteners. The closure unit may be as simply closed by first closing the fastener l, lowering the flap-like stringer tape l2, which results in the mating serrations of the sealing strips interfitting with one another, and. finally closing the fastener l 0.

As many changes could be made in carrying out the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. I

' I claim:

1. A self-contained closure unit for garments and the like comprising two slide fasteners assembled one on the other, each said fastener comprising a pair of companion stringer tapes carrying rows of fastener elements along their adj acent edges which define the fastener opening and a slider for'engaging and disengaging-said elements, a tape of one fastener and the opposite tape of the other fastener having greater width than their companion tapes whereby said fastener openings are offset laterally from the longitudinal center line of the closure unit and the opening of each fastener is covered by the wider tape of the other fastener, and sealing means completely filling the space between the two fasteners, said sealing means comprising two strips of resilient sealing material whose adjacent edges are complemen'tally formed so as to sealingly engage one with -the other generally: along said longitudinal center line, each said strip being carried by the wider tape of one fastener element and having width not substantially less than the width of said wider tape whereby it also covers the openin of the other fastener, the faces of the sealing strips adjacent the fastener openings having channels for accommodating the fastener elements and sliders of the respective fasteners.

2. A self-contained closure unit as set forth in REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number Number UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Dreisbach Apr. 11, 1899 Canfieid June 18, 1901 Vartabedian Apr. 25, 1944 Tedesco July 18, 1944 Sam: Nov. 16, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Country I Date Netherlands of 1940 Sweden of 1945. Australia of 1945 

